Ed Notes Online: MORE Pres Candidate Cavanagh in NY Times

Ed Notes Online: MORE Pres Candidate Cavanagh in NY Times:

MORE Pres Candidate Cavanagh in NY Times

by ed notes online

"The ‘bad teacher’ narrative as a way of explaining what’s wrong with our school system gets really old,” says Ms. Cavanagh. “Our union has taken a stance that we will collaborate and compromise and that is shortsighted when the other side seems bent on destroying you." -- Julie Cavanagh in NY Times

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/23/scorn-for-unions-threatens-mayors-educational-legacy/

Anything Michael Powell writes is worth reading, though one must pity his passion for the Mets (I didn't tell him Julie is a Phillies fan) and I think the Jets. Now I don't know if he knew Julie is running against Mulgrew and I also know that Julie tends to downplay putting herself front and center but what an interesting sidelight to this article that Julie as President along the Karen Lewis mode would be Bloomberg's and the ed deformers' worst nightmare.

Gotham ExtraJanuary 23, 2013, 6:43

Scorn for Unions Threatens Mayor’s Educational Legacy

By MICHAEL POWELL

Teachers Julie Cavanagh and Adam Stevens listen to the mayor pour boiling oil on their union, to his talk of imposing more tests and using the scores to draw a stringent measure of each teacher, and they wonder what world he inhabits.

Gotham Extra

Michael Powell on government and politics.

Ms. Cavanagh, 34, teaches at the highly rated Public School 15, in the working-class Brooklyn 

Joy Resmovits: Marco Rubio Wants Education Reform, Rick Scott Proposes Teacher Raise: Ed Today

Joy Resmovits: Marco Rubio Wants Education Reform, Rick Scott Proposes Teacher Raise: Ed Today:

Marco Rubio Wants Education Reform, Rick Scott Proposes Teacher Raise: Ed Today

by Joy Resmovits

Rubio-Style Reform? Republican rising star Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said Thursday that lawmakers must pay more attention to the "skills gap" between existing jobs and the lack of qualified employees to fill them, reportsThe Hill. Speaking at the Chamber of Commerce, Rubio said of education, "because it's not controversial, it's not getting nearly enough attention as it needs to be getting."

Florida Teacher Pay Day? Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R), who has publicly sparred with teachers unions and cut education spending in the past, now wants to give raises to all full-time teachers -- to the tune of $2,500 a piece. According to the Tampa Bay Times, lawmakers are cautious -- the raises would come from a budget surplus that advocates want to use for things like Medicaid caseloads, higher education and school security.

School Closure Worries? As Philadelphia prepares to shut down some of its schools, affected families are sounding off. In a Wednesday hearing, the Notebook reports, the biggest fear was about safety. "I want my school to stay open, where I feel safe," said Judea Williams, a 3rd grader at Gompers Elementary, one of the schools slated for closure. "I don't want to have to watch my back all of the time. If I move to Beeber, I will have 

College Dropout Crisis Revealed In 'American Dream 2.0' Report

by Joy Resmovits

An influential group of college presidents, civil rights leaders and advocates sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is highlighting what it calls a growing higher education dropout crisis and seeks to fix it in part by linking financial aid with successful graduation.

“Education is an economic issue,” Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League and a member of the coalition, said in a statement. “We have to build a more equitable system of higher education to make us more competitive in the world economically.”

The group's report, released Thursday and called "The American Dream 2.0," said 46 percent of America's 

Daily Kos: Obama Reboot

Daily Kos: Obama Reboot:

Obama Reboot

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

President Obama’s Inaugural Address was an unapologetic, unequivocal progressive manifesto of domestic policies.I needed that.

So begins today's New York Times column by Charles M. Blow, whose title I have borrowed for this post.He offers selection from the President's words, but what catches my attention and provokes my thinking are some of his own words, such as those with which I began.
You can of course simply read the column.  If you do I will be more than satisfied.
I will below offer some more of Blow's words which caught my attention as well as my reaction thereto.

School Tech Connect: Monty Neil Tonight

School Tech Connect: Monty Neil Tonight:

Monty Neil Tonight

by noreply@blogger.com (Tim Furman)

7 PM, Hartzell Methodist Church.

Inch by inch, row by row, people are waking up to overtesting that's going on in our schools. Even the sleepiest people.

By the way, the testing is not something the teachers are asking for. It's political. It's part of the corporate takeover of public education. You can't have something like SB7 and not expect a barrage of idiotic "formative" testing. If you were a legislator, for example, and you voted for SB7, and you had no idea about the number of tests that would follow, then you're simply not paying attention.

It's More Than He Said-She Said

by noreply@blogger.com (Tim Furman)

Ok, this is an important matter here--- and to be dramatic, it goes right to the heart of journalism. In this excellent piece by Bryan Lowry, CPS Communications person Becky Carrol distributes a considerable spray of flak in response to the premise of the utilization criticism. Read it carefully.

UPDATE: Rahm undermines BBB's school-closing commission + Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: The Battle in Seattle

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: The Battle in Seattle:

Rahm undermines BBB's school-closing commission

by Mike Klonsky

Is Rahm really flipping off BBB's own hand-picked School Utilization Commission, led by former ComEd boss Frank Clark, which recommended keeping hands off of high schools when it comes to school closings? If he is it won't be the first time he's dissed the hired help. Remember his hand-picked arbitrator during the teachers strike who recommended a 15-20% pay raise for teachers?

Clark's commission wants as few as 15 schools closed instead of the 200 being pushed by the Civic Committee. Commission members reportedly feel that CPS is"incapable and doesn't have the capacity to close 100-plus schools."

Rahm is also undermining Byrd-Bennett in the process. I knew he would. Didn't everyone expect this when she took the job?

According to the Tribune:

"The commission has provided a reality check that gives Barbara Byrd-Bennett a credible basis to push back against those that may be calling for massive closings," said a source with ties to the 

The Battle in Seattle

by Mike Klonsky

SEA. members  use phone bank to build support for Garfield teachers.

The courageous action taken by teachers at Seattle's Garfield High School has won growing support and admiration, not only from the city's teachers, parents and students, but from teachers nationwide. Their announced refusal on January 10th to administer the Measure of Academic Progress (MAP), a poorly-constructed, high-stakes, standardized test, has once again brought national attention to disastrous testing-madness policies being pushed and enforced for the past 12 years under No Child Left Behind and Race To The 

Sacramento News & Review - Downsizing the district - Bites - Opinions - January 24, 2013

Sacramento News & Review - Downsizing the district - Bites - Opinions - January 24, 2013:

Downsizing the district

Neighborhood schools to be shuttered, superintendent's ‘priority schools' spared

By Cosmo Garvin 
cosmog@newsreview.com

This article was published on 01.24.13.

The Sacramento City Unified School District board will meet on Thursday, February 21, to consider the closure of 11 neighborhood elementary schools. They are Bret Harte, Clayton B. Wire, C.P. Huntington, Fruit Ridge, James W. Marshall, Joseph Bonnheim, Maple, Mark Hopkins, Susan B. Anthony, Tahoe and Washington elementary schools. Related stories: Plagiarists, white supremacists and me Bites schools Yolo County district attorney Jeff Reisig on plagiarism, and the Sacramento City Unified School District will experiment with notnaming its schools after white supremacists. SN&R, 08.09.12. Fail Test scores are mixed, costs are high and teachers are pissed. Why critics say Sacramento city school reform could … SN&R, 11.17.11.

Hey, Sac city parents, did you vote for Proposition 30 to save public education? Congratulations. School bonds, too? Good for you! Now, say goodbye to your neighborhood school.
Deficits in the Sacramento City Unified School District are expected to ease somewhat—to a mere $10 million or less in 2013-2014—but the school board is preparing to close 11 public elementary schools next month. District people are calling this “rightsizing” the school system, if that sort of corporate mumbo jumbo makes you feel any better.
Each closure is estimated to save about $200,000 to $250,000 a year. That’s about $2.5 million in total annual savings, mostly from shedding the salaries of principals, maintenance and office staff at each site.
The district says the closure list is strictly based on enrollment, and that the process treats all schools equally. But some schools are more equal than others.
Some underenrolled schools are being spared because district officials assume those will see student populations rise when other nearby schools are shuttered. But three of the most underenrolled schools—Oak Ridge, Leataata Floyd and Father Keith B. Kenny—are also being protected because they are among those in Superintendent Jonathan Raymond’s Priority Schools program.
These are schools with low test scor

Teachers opposed to tests get a warning | Education | The Seattle Times

Teachers opposed to tests get a warning | Education | The Seattle Times:

Teachers opposed to tests get a warning

Seattle Public Schools officials have told teachers boycotting the MAP tests that they must administer the tests or face suspension.

By Linda Shaw

Seattle Times education reporter

GREG GILBERT / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Siblings Marley and Dakota Patterson-Footen attend a rally outside the Seattle Public Schools headquarters Wednesday at which some Seattle teachers protested the Measures of Academic Progress, or MAP, tests. Marley, 9, and Dakota, 5, attend B.F. Day Elementary in Fremont.

MOST POPULAR COMMENTS

HIDE / SHOW COMMENTS

MAP does not have the resources at the district to support its intensive use of compute... (January 23, 2013, by Cascade Flower) MORE

One reason and one reason only that the District issued a warning (aka documentation). ... (January 23, 2013, by Creasy Bear) MORE

Scrap the MAP -- Now! (January 23, 2013, by John8888) MORE

Read all 23 comments

Post a comment

Seattle school officials sent a letter Wednesday asking principals to inform all their teachers by day’s end that they will be disciplined if they refuse to give district-required tests.

But at a rally Wednesday afternoon at Seattle Public Schools headquarters, teachers boycotting the Measures of Academic Progress, or MAP, said they would not back down because the tests are an unreliable measure that hurts students.

The boycott, which started at Garfield High, now includes a handful of teachers at ORCA K-8 and 32 staff members at Chief Sealth. Teachers at 

Texas House eliminates funding for standardized testing:

Texas House eliminates funding for standardized testing

Posted by Valerie Strauss on January 24, 2013 at 6:02 am

•   Text Size
• Print
• Reprints

• Share:
• More »

The revolt against standardized testing in Texas has taken a new twist: The Texas House has put forth a draft 2014-15 budget that zeroes out all funding for statewide standardized assessment. By way of explanation, Speaker Joe Straus said, “To parents and educators concerned about excessive testing, the Texas House has heard you.”

The Dallas Morning News said that the draft budget is not likely to stand, given that the Senate’s preliminary budget has about $94 million allocated for the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, the standardized test known as STAAR. The two budgets will have to be reconciled and it is hard to believe the state will get rid of the te

Caution urged on Common Core -- from a supporter

by Valerie Strauss

Even as schools across the country change curriculum and assessments to align with the new Common Core State Standards, there are plenty of people -- including Common Core supporters who think implementation is being rushed. Here is an open letter on this subject to the Illinois State Board of Education from Paul Horton, a history teacher at the private University of Chicago Laboratory Schools (where President Obama's daughters attended before moving to Washington D.C.), and state liaison to the Illinois Council for History Education. In this letter Horton said he refers to himself and to many other teachers and educators who agree with his views.
Read full article >>

Questions about newly named head of National Independent Schools Association

by Valerie Strauss

The choice of John Chubb, a vocal advocate of school choice who was part of Mitt Romney's campaign education advisory team, as president-elect of the National Association of Independent Schools has sparked some controversy in that part of the education world.
Read full article >>

Schools Matter: Does language acquisition require hard struggle?

Schools Matter: Does language acquisition require hard struggle?:

Does language acquisition require hard struggle?

by skrashen

Posted as a comment following Larry Ferlazzo’s second column on “How will I implement Common Core for Language Arts’


http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/classroom_qa_with_larry_ferlazzo/2013/01/response_honoring_struggle_in_common_core_for_language_arts.html?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed


Re Dina Strasser’s contribution:" In second language acquisition terminology, we refer to Stephen Krashen's theory of "i plus one." It is where we present the student with enough unfamiliarity-- enough challenge-- to have them frown at the page, have to try an oral answer two or three times before getting it right, or have to think 

New Ethics Bill Would Ensnare Four Florida Legislators on Charter School Legislation | Scathing Purple Musings

New Ethics Bill Would Ensnare Four Florida Legislators on Charter School Legislation | Scathing Purple Musings:

New Ethics Bill Would Ensnare Four Florida Legislators on Charter School Legislation

by Bob Sikes

Senate president Don Gaetz was obviously referring to former House Speaker Ray Sansom last week in his interview with Florida Face to Face while making the case for ethics reform:

Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, used the example of a lawmaker who gets elected, snags a seat on the education committee and suddenly becomes an expert, leading to a paid job at a college or school district.
“That’s just a little bit too convenient,” Gaetz said on the public TV broadcast Florida Face to Face.

It’s fair to wonder if Gaetz will be applying the following standard from his ethics bill to four Florida legislators for their relationships with charter schools:

Requires lawmakers to abstain from voting on issues that 

NYC Educator: John King Is the Worst Person in the World*

NYC Educator: John King Is the Worst Person in the World*:

John King Is the Worst Person in the World*

by NYC Educator

It's not really easy to become a superlative. You have to work very hard at it, and there is always tremendous competition. But NYS Education Commissioner John King is breaking new ground of late, leapfrogging over other "reformers" to capture a title they're all clamoring for. How did he do this?

It's simple, actually. When Mike Bloomberg once again failed to negotiate a junk science evaluation for teachers, reneging on a deal with the UFT, John King decided he'd take a billion dollars away from the neediest kids in New York City. Though it's his decision, he's quite content to blame the UFT, Bloomberg, or pretty much anyone. I'm UFT, so I guess it's my fault. And I'm worse than most, because I absolutely oppose the use of junk science in determining whether or not teachers keep jobs. For reasons I cannot remotely fathom, my union leadership embraces this.

Now we can debate all day long as to why the evaluation deal failed (Bloomberg, Bloomberg, and Bloomberg). But as ridiculous as that debate is, there ought to be none whatsoev

More charges against charter-school officials - Philly.com

More charges against charter-school officials - Philly.com:

More charges against charter-school officials

January 23, 2013|By Martha Woodall, Inquirer Staff Writer

• • Share on emailShare on printShare on redditMore Sharing Services

The U.S. Attorney's Office announced five additional charges Tuesday against charter school founder Dorothy June Brown and three former administrators for defrauding the schools.

The superseding indictment charges Brown, 75, of Haverford, and Joan Woods Chalker, 74, of Springfield, Delaware County, with two counts of wire fraud and one more count of obstruction of justice.

The grand jury alleged that the wire fraud and obstruction occurred as part of schemes to defraud charter schools that Brown had founded of $214,095.

Story continues below.

Courteney L. Knight, 65, of King of Prussia, was charged with two more counts of obstruction of justice. Michael A. Slade Jr., 31, of Philadelphia, was charged with one more count of obstructing justice.

The charges are in addition to a 62-count indictment a federal grand jury returned July 24 that charged Brown and the former administrators with defrauding the schools of more than $6.5 million. Those charges include wire fraud, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and witness tampering.

Before being charged, Chalker, who had worked with Brown and her charter schools for years, was 

Common Core: Implications of Collaboration « InterACT

Common Core: Implications of Collaboration « InterACT:

Common Core: Implications of Collaboration

by David B. Cohen

Larry Ferlazzo (left), seen here with fellow ACT members on the CA Educator Excellence Task Force (l-r): Martha Infante, Tara Kini, Kelly Kovacic

The implementation of the Common Core State Standards is underway, and the imminent transition that will affect most American public schools is sparking a wide variety of reactions among educators I know and interact with, or whose writing I read online.  At the extremes are the enthusiastic adopters and the active resistors, and in between, a wide swath of teachers who are still sorting out their reactions as they learn more about the content of the standards and the implications of their adoption.
In my blog, I haven’t focused on the Common Core at length, but the posts I have written remain some of the most viewed here at InterACT.  Looking back at “Common Core Confusion” – written nearly two years ago – I see many of the fundamental issues are still driving the conversation.  The argument for the necessity of the standards has never been convincing to me.  The inclusion of a “recommended” reading list in the ELA standards still irritates me.  Additional problems include the likelihood of excessive testing and the money gushing out of